Findings Reveal a Sharp Decline in Overall Optimism, Ever More Transparent Supply Chains, and a Focus on Quality

UL (Underwriters Laboratories), a world leader in advancing safety, announced today the 2012 findings of its annual global study, The Product Mindset, which examines manufacturer and consumer perceptions about how products are made, sold, bought and consumed. This year's findings, culled from interviews with manufacturers and consumers in the U.S., China, Germany and India, show a steep decline in optimism and increased expectations around quality, safety and the environment. These expectations are driving more complex supply chain dynamics, where traceability and sourcing are the tools manufacturers are leveraging to help deliver reliable, cost effective products that consumers are demanding.

"The volatility in today's world is causing companies and people to look at the products they make and consume with more scrutiny than ever before. We are seeing manufacturers showcase aspects of their supply chain as consumers demand more transparency. Where a product's made, how it's made and what's in it are paramount," said Keith Williams, UL CEO.

The study reveals that product safety remains fundamental, and the environmental orientation of a manufacturer's operations and their product features are growing in importance. Specifically, the study highlights the growing concerns for the origins of manufactured products including where their components and raw materials are sourced.

"It is clear from this year's report that supply chain issues are top-of-mind for global manufacturers, but also in the line of sight of consumers in both developed and emerging economies. The report strongly suggests that these trends will accelerate in the coming years as manufacturers strive to meet consumer demand for increased quality and safety in the things they purchase and use," stated Clyde Kofman, UL Chief Strategy Officer.

Key insights from the study include:

Manufacturers are strategically managing increasingly complex supply chains to improve operations and quality, and to reduce costs. As a result, global sourcing is likely to expand to new countries in the coming years.

Consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated about global supply chain issues including where products and their components are made and whether global manufacturers and their suppliers are providing ethical working environments for employees. Furthermore, manufacturers are noting increased pressure for transparency related to product, component and raw material sourcing.

Manufacturers believe that product safety is increasing in importance to consumers, and delivering it is critical to their business success.

Most consumers do not believe manufacturers use the best possible raw materials, ingredients or components in their products.

Manufacturers in both developed and emerging nations have a significantly more favourable opinion about the quality of materials sourced from developed markets than those from emerging markets.

Highlighted Findings from UL's 2012Product Mindsetglobal report

Manufacturersfeel the pressure from an increasingly complex, global supply chain

Sourcing is becoming more global, with 46% of manufacturers increasing their sourcing from other countries over the next five years. Seventy-nine percent of those manufacturers note they will add additional countries to their roster versus replacing existing current sources.

Forty-three percent of manufacturers are not highly satisfied with their ability to expand into new markets.

Seventy-six percent of manufacturers believe global sourcing is a means to improve product quality; a 19 percent increase from what manufacturers noted last year, reflecting manufacturers' need to enhance competitiveness in a volatile and financially challenged global marketplace.

Only 30 percent of consumers strongly believe manufacturers use the best possible ingredients, raw materials or components in their products.

Fifty-seven percent of consumers are aware of which country the products they purchase are manufactured in; yet, 62 percent of consumers believe it is more important to know where a product's parts are from than where a product was assembled.

Over the next five years, 44 percent of consumers state that knowing where a product is from will become more important.

On average 48 percent of consumers feel manufacturers have not taken adequate steps to ensure both they and their suppliers are committed to workplace safety and the ethical and fair treatment of workers.

Less than one quarter (24 percent) of Chinese consumers and less than half of Indian consumers (40 percent) say manufacturers have not taken adequate steps to ensure that both they and their suppliers are committed to the ethical/fair treatment of workers and workplace safety compared with 65 percent of U.S. consumers and 64 percent of German consumers.

Quality remains a critical driver

Manufacturers rank quality as the number one most important driver of their success today and number one most important future driver.

Manufacturers think consumers care most about quality, with 38 percent stating it is the most important issue for consumers.

Consumers cite quality as the number one reason to explain why they select the products they buy.

Quality also ranks as the first or second most important type of product information for consumers across the food, building materials, high-tech and smart appliance categories.

Consumers are becoming more sophisticated

Consumers are able to demonstrate a nuanced understanding of product safety issues, picking online security as their number one high-tech safety concern, while selecting toxic emissions/indoor air pollution as the number one concern for home building materials.

Consumers prioritise product safety for products that are in or surrounding their bodies due to the immediate impact to their health or exposure over extended periods of time. Consumers rank product safety as most important to fresh (29 percent) and processed foods (27 percent) and home building materials (23 percent) versus high tech (10 percent) and smart appliances (9 percent). Product safety is also the information consumers most want when considering purchasing food or home building materials, but safety information is not among the top three types of information consumers want for consumer electronics or smart appliances.

Sixty-eight percent of manufacturers feel it is very important to clearly show consumers what ingredients/components are included in their products.

Global quantitative research was conducted by an independent research firm during spring 2012. For the study, 1,201 consumers and 1,202 manufacturers in China, Germany, India and the United States were interviewed across an array of topics related to safety, performance, innovation and sustainability. Manufacturers were selected from the high technology/consumer electronics, food, smart appliances and building materials sectors and were interviewed by phone. Consumers were interviewed through an online survey.

About UL:

UL is a premier global independent safety science company with more than 118 years of history. Employing more than 10,000 professionals with customers in over 100 countries, UL has five distinct business units -- Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Knowledge Services, and Verification Services - to meet the expanding needs of our customers and to deliver on our public safety mission. For more information on UL's family of companies and network of 95 laboratory, testing, and certification facilities, go to www.UL.com.